50 Slices of Pie

Note: We are recycling this post from last year because it's that good. And yes pies!

It’s the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, and I am really looking forward to some pie! I ventured to the 2nd floor of Central Library and found my way to the 641s (this is the Dewey Decimal call number that includes cookbooks). I grabbed all of the pie books I could find, and carried them to my desk, so I could find the perfect pie recipe. (Don’t worry, I put them back!)

But this begs the question: Just what is the perfect pie?

There are several categories of pie, including fruit, cream, custard, chocolate, and savory, but this is Thanksgiving, after all, so let's focus on traditional Thanksgiving dinner pies, and their many variations.

Pumpkin Pie

With pumpkin pie, I think you either love it or hate it. I, for one, am not a fan of traditional pumpkin pie, but I like ones that are creamy.

Sweet Potato Pie

I have to admit, I’d never had sweet potato pie until a staff member brought one to a holiday luncheon a few years ago. Sweet potato pie, where have you been all my life?

Last year, Wal-Mart introduced a sweet potato pie by none other than singer Patti LaBelle, and the pies became wildly popular after a fan posted a video of himself sampling the pie. They were so popular that some Wal-Mart stores sold out. Well, now you can try the recipe from the comfort of your own home!

Chocolate Pie

What can I say about chocolate pie? There are so many variations that I could devote a whole blog post to just this. My personal favorite chocolate pie is Chocolate Chess Pie. I’ve yet to find a recipe that quite lives up to my childhood memories, but this one is pretty close:

If this post got your mouth watering and now all you can think about is baking a pie, I narrowed down my huge stack of pie books to these seven. All of them can be borrowed from Houston Public Library.

I recommend this one on name recognition alone. How can you go wrong with Martha Stewart? There is a small technique section at the end of the book, but the selling point of this book is the recipes. As the title states, included are 150 recipes from your classics to more modern recipes.

I particularly like that this book is organized by seasons, so you can choose seasonally-appropriate recipes. The technique photos are incredibly helpful, and most recipes also have an accompanying photograph. One thing to note is that many of the recipes in this book include alchohol, as well as ingredients that may be harder to find in the average grocery store.

Written by two sisters who own a popular bakery in Brooklyn, this is not your mama's pie book. The photographs in this book are astounding, with an accompanying photo for each recipe. Like First Prize Pies, this books is arranged by season.

I really like the conversational writing style of this book. It's not as photo-filled as I would hope, but the photographs included (including a few technique photos) are beautiful. This book is good if you want to stray (but not too far) from the traditional.

This book was published by The Culinary Institute of America. The first 61 pages are devoted to tools, equipment, ingredients, and techniques, complete with detailed pictures. Additionally, nearly every recipe has an accompanying photograph of the finished pie. The recipes are sophisticated, but with the introductory content, it would be good for an adventurous beginner.

Like a few of the others, this book is arranged seasonally. This one is a little more sparse than the others, but the recipes included look outstanding and look accessible to the home baker. There is a nice section on equipment, but it is lacking a good technique section. If you are a novice baker, you might want to consider one of the others.